New Schepp Family Funeral Home to be built in Minoa

A new funeral home will replace the current 61-year-old R.H. Schepp & Son on East Avenue in Minoa.

Schepp Family Funeral Homes is constructing a new 7,200-square-foot facility in a highly visible location. The original, built in 1959 by founder Russell H. Schepp, is on what has become a quiet residential street.

“I fear some new residents may not even know there is a funeral home in Minoa,” said his son Tom Schepp.

The new location will be at the corner of Main Street (also known as Schepps Corners Road) and Kirkville Road, just north of the village of Minoa.

The design is similar to Schepp’s two other funeral homes, Eaton-Tubbs-Schepp in Fayetteville and Newell-Fay in Manlius. All facilities will be on one level and provide spacious surroundings for any service request. For instance, many funeral homes have two chapels on each side of a center hall, which makes it difficult to have larger services where everyone can be accommodated in one area.

“Our facilities have both chapels next to each other,” Schepp said. “This allows us to divide the chapel into smaller, more intimate areas or open it up for large services where everyone can be seated, see and hear the service.”

Unique to Schepp Family Funeral homes is the introduction of antique funeral vehicles that may be used during processions. A detached garage behind the Minoa facility will store the classic fleet.

“My hobby has been antique cars,” said Schepp, who just finished restoring a 1928 Buick hearse this winter. His antiques have been driven in several local parades over the years, and have drawn interest from many people in the community. For the first time beginning this summer, families will have the choice of the modern Cadillacs – hearse, limo, flower car and lead-bearer clergy cars; the vintage autos – a 1924 open Packard seven-passenger touring car, a 1928 Buick hearse, a 1930 Cadillac seven-passenger Imperial limousine and a 1931 Ford Model A Phaeton; or an 1895 horse-drawn hearse.

“No other funeral home in this area can offer these,” he said. “Indeed, I know of no other funeral home in New York state or in the Northeast with offerings like these.”

Overall, the building, detached garage and parking area will cover about two acres. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2012.

The three funeral homes in Fayetteville, Manlius and Minoa are owned and operated by the Schepp family, which is now in its fourth generation of providing funeral services in the town. The family is descended from one of the first families that settled in the area in the early 1830s; a number of ethnic German families emigrated from the border area of Alsace-Lorraine and created farms in the northern part of the town of Manlius, just north of what would become Minoa. Seven generations later, members of the Schepp family still reside in the area.